Man accused of 6th DWI, passing out behind the wheel

BATON ROUGE - Sheriff's deputies arrested a Prairieville man for his sixth DWI after investigators said he was found passed out in his vehicle.

EBRSO deputies arrested Fredrick Lamont Warner, 37, on Sunday. They said despite his prior arrests, there was only one DWI conviction on his record.

In 2002, Warner was arrested for DWI in Baton Rouge, but that charge was thrown out by the judge. Then in 2008, he was arrested for DWI in Ascension Parish followed by another DWI arrest in St. John Parish in 2009, but both those arrests were pled down to reckless operation charges.

"Often times people refuse tests and it does often times make it difficult to prove a DWI and often times when there's not a video tape to show the level of intoxication it makes it more difficult," said District Attorney Hillar Moore.

In 2012 Warner was arrested for DWI again in Baton Rouge and received his first conviction for driving drunk. He got off without jail time, which is normal for a first offense conviction.

But then in 2013, he was arrested again in Baton Rouge for DWI. That charge is currently pending, which leads to his most recent arrest on Sunday, marking the sixth time he was cuffed for drunk driving.

Deputies said Warner was found stopped near the 9000 block of Greenwell Springs Road, where his car had come to rest against the curb facing the wrong direction in a turn lane. Warner was passed out or asleep behind the wheel, and the vehicle was still in gear according to deputies.

Investigators said they found an open glass with liquor in it next to Warner, and a bottle of Courvoisier in a paper bag in the passenger's seat.

The arresting deputy said Warner could not give them a driver's license or registration and failed the field sobriety test. The deputy said Warner also refused to submit to a breath test after he was arrested and taken to the Central Substation, demanding that he be taken straight to jail rather than take the test.

"He refused, he's been through the system, he obviously knows the system and this is a person that because of that and because of the rest of his record he will receive our attention," said Moore.

Warner's charges could be upgraded to second or even third offense DWI, a felony.

Deputies booked Warner on charges of careless operation, open container, not wearing a seat belt, and seventh arrest DWI. They said he also had a bench warrant for failing to appear in court over a charge of not wearing a seat belt.